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Planned Parenthood barred from program

By Paul J. Weber \ Associated Press

Posted:
01/12/2013 12:00:00 AM MST

AUSTIN -- A Texas judge refused to allow Planned Parenthood to temporarily rejoin a health program for low-income women Friday, saying the organization would be unlikely to win its court fight to get around a new law that disqualifies health clinics with any affiliation to abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood was one of the largest chains of health clinics in the Texas Women's Health Program, which provides cancer screenings, contraceptives and other basic health services to more than 110,000 eligible low-income women statewide. Planned Parenthood offers abortion services at some of its U.S. clinics, but not at any of its Texas clinics.

State District Judge Steve Yelenosky acknowledged that excluding Planned Parenthood would probably affect women who depend on the program's free services. But the judge said the organization would probably lose if its lawsuit went to trial.

Yelenosky's ruling does not exhaust Planned Parenthood's legal options, but it is a blow to the organization's two-year fight to rejoin the program.

Without state reimbursements or finding new sources of funding, the organization has warned that clinics across the state could be shuttered because most of their patients can't afford to pay.